Pitso urges referees to protect Sirino from the ‘bullies’
Pitso Mosimane told match officials that they need to shield his star player Gaston Sirino from the rash tackles and intimidation that the 28-year-old often gets.
Gaston Sirino of Mamelodi Sundowns celebrates scoring a goal with coach Pitso Mosimane. (Photo by Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images)
The Uruguayan is an astute technical player and he is one of the most skillful players in the Mamelodi Sundowns team, if not the entire Premier Soccer League.
While he scores the goals and makes the assist on regular basis, he also finds himself at end of nasty challenges from the opposition and his coach says referees need to protect him from the “bullies”.
“The referees must protect Sirino and must never look at how he reacts. They must go to the aggressors and yes, intimidation is a tactic also, they want to send him off, but it is okay,” said Mosimane following his side’s 2-1 win over Maritzburg United on Saturday night where Sirino was named Man-of-the-Match.
“Everybody puts their hands on his face because he is small, what is he going to do? It is like beating a woman. The bullies are there to do what they have to do to send him off. He is the smallest guy on the pitch and everybody is targeting him because he is dribbling and he is doing all of that and no one wants to watch a party so they play strong on him,” added.
Sirino is not a saint either as he often kicks and shoves players in retaliation, which saw him shown a couple of yellow cards and a red card last season. However, Mosimane says he would rather see Sirino get booked than have him playing below his potential.
“He reacts, it is normal and I am not saying he must punch people. If he punches, he must get a red card, no problem but those who lay their hands on him, give them a yellow card. Somebody has to protect Sirino. How can we have technical players like this and we don’t protect them?
“He is an emotional player. I’ll rather have him get the yellow cards and whatever but playing to his full potential than being bullied. I want them to go to Wayne Arendse or Denis Onyango and put the hand on the face. Heavyweight to heavyweight, if you are a big boy go to Denis and let’s see. I don’t promote it but don’t go to soft targets.”
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